VVD

Almost all parties in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, demanded that Minister Eric Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate come up with a protocol for handling earthquake damage caused by gas extraction in Groningen within two weeks. Wiebes will make haste on such a protocol, but can not give a time frame for when it will be ready, he said in a parliamentary debate on the matter on Tuesday, NOS reports.

New United States ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra apologized for falsely claiming in 2015 that politicians were set on fire in the Netherlands by Islamic fundamentalists and that there are no-go zones in the country in an interview with the Telegraaf on Saturday. Dutch parliamentarians find it good that he finally retracted these false statements. "Better late than never", PvdA MP Lilianne Ploumen said to the Telegraaf.

Rotterdam's mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb would not take back his controversial remarks on Salafism. Last month the mayor, a Muslim himself, caused uproar when during an interview he stated that every Muslim is a bit of a Salafist. Salafism is an ultra-conservative branch within the Sunni Islam.

"There were no wrong words used in the interview, but perhaps the radio is too volatile of a medium"; Aboutaleb told the city council on Friday. The mayor's provocative remark was heard during an interview on the radio-program Dit is de Dag.

The political opposition grows against the plan to set the opening of the Lelystad airport around April 2019. The ruling parties are under the pressure of their local politicians, who consider April 2019 to be way too soon.

Members of the Dutch Parliament of the coalition-parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie will discuss on the matter next week. According to newspaper Trouw, last week they met with fellow party members from the interested region. The ChristenUnie already came to the conclusion that next year's April is not an option for the opening.

The leader of the Utrecht faction of anti-Islam party PVV surprised many by suggesting he hoped that a prominent mosque in the city would go up in flames. The comments brought immediate condemnation from politicians of several parties in the area.

Henk van Deún represented the PVV during a political talk radio show on a local channel. He was joined by the leader of Turkish and multicultural party Denk, Mahmut Sungur, who commented that he wanted to see the city's Ulu Mosque be recognized as a proud local landmark.

The Tweede Kamer wants to know from the Minister of Justice and Security why the police are not acting against a Russian site on which pedophiles are massively sharing photos of children, including Dutch children. On Tuesday the Belgian police launched an investigation into the site, RTL Nieuws reports.

The former Number 2 at the Justice Ministry, who is now employed as a Connexxion bus driver, Fred Teeven received an extraordinary passenger Tuesday morning. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte took a ride on Teeven's bus travelling between Hoofddorp and Schiphol.

A 2015 traffic accident involving once-prominent VVD politician Fred Teeven was caused by his own use of his phone while driving. Now a professional bus driver, the former Number 2 at the Justice Ministry stated his mea culpa in an interview with De Telegraaf.

The last Peilingwijzer of the year shows that Geert Wilders and his anti-Islam PVV is facing increasing competition from new nationalist party FvD led by Thierry Baudet. The FvD leader was also named politician of the year by EenVandaag on Tuesday.

The VVD's integrity committee is launching an investigation into parliamentarian Wybren van Haga, who is accused of not following new rules on rental housing that Amsterdam implemented at the start of this year, a spokesperson for the party confirmed to NU.nl.

On Saturday Het Parool reported that Van Haga is violating Amsterdam's stricter rules on housing rental with several of his properties in the Dutch capital.

Almost all political parties in Amsterdam are in favor of extending the new Noord-Zuid subway line to Schiphol, and later further into Haarlemmermeer, was revealed during the first municipal election debate in Pakhuis De Zwijger on Monday. The debate focused on Schiphol and the harbor, Haarlems Dagblad reports.

Donald Trump's decision to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is "unwise and counterproductive", Minister Halbe Zijlstra of Foreign Affairs said to a delegation of the United States government in Brussels on Wednesday. The EU countries gave this same message to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during lunch. "This is going to reverse the peace process rather than moving it forward", Zijlstra said to NOS.

Gert-Jaap van Ulzen, board member of the VVD in Leeuwarden, resigned from the party following posts he made on Twitter calling anti-Zwarte Piet activists "negro fascists". Faction secretary Joel Heiner confirmed to Omrp Fryslan that Van Ulzen decided to withdraw from the VVD Leeuwarden board after "good consultation" with the other board members.

The VVD, D66 and PvdA want clarification from the government on exactly what role the Netherlands played in the case against former Transavia pilot Julio Poch. After years in custody, the Argentinian-Dutch man was acquitted on Wednesday of involvement in so-called "death flights" during the military dictatorship in Argentina between 1976 and 1983, ANP reports.

The Tweede Kamer wants better and more careful screening for LGBTI asylum seekers. Currently the immigration and naturalization service IND rejects too many LGBTI people, while they are actually eligible for asylum, according to coalition parties D66, VVD, CDA and ChristenUnie, NOS reports.

Dutch politicians want to intensify the fight against texting while driving. The VVD wants the police to always check a smartphone's history after a traffic accident, to see if it was being used during the accident, parliamentarian Remco Dijkstra said to the Telegraaf.

According to the VVD parliamentarian, the police can already check smartphones to see whether a driver had both hands on the wheel, but they rarely do so. The VVD also wants stricter punishments for smartphone use while driving. The party calls for the punishment for this to be the same as for drunk driving.

The Tweede Kamer is shocked and outraged by reports from Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations that Russia and other countries are using fake news to try and influence public opinion in the Netherlands. "That fake accounts influence our democracy is life threateningly dangerous", CDA leader Sybrand Buma said to broadcaster NOS. The CDA and D66 are presenting a set of measures in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, on Wednesday to prevent this from happening.

The government of Sint Maarten decided to agree to the Netherlands' conditions for financing the reconstruction of the island following the destruction left by Hurricane Irma in September, BNR reports. The fund contains between 200 million and 300 million euros, according to the broadcaster.

Recently deceased Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan launched a secret anti-radicalization campaign that the city council knew nothing about, Elsevier reported on Sunday. The GroenLinks faction in Amsterdam is surprised by the commotion this report caused, saying that the project was discussed in the city council in March, NU.nl reports.

On Thursday the Ministers in the Rutte II government hand over their tasks to their successors. Some decided to mark the occasion. Former deputy prime minister and Social Affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher (PvdA), for example, posted a video on Twitter of his last day at work.

There are indications that Dutch technology was used in weapons of mass destruction or missile programs of Iran, Pakistan and Syria, departing Ministers Lilianne Ploumen for Foreign Trade, Bert Koenders of Foreign Affairs and Klaas Dijkhoff of Defense wrote to the Tweede Kamer, ANP reports.

After the longest government formation process ever in Dutch history, the Rutte III cabinet will be presented today. At 10:30 a.m. King Willem-Alexander will swear in the 16 new ministers and 8 new state secretaries at the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. At around 11:20 a.m., the new ministers will appear in front of the palace with the King, RTL Nieuws reports.

The names of the Rutte III cabinet's Ministers and State Secretaries were announced on Saturday. In addition to Prime Minster Mark Rutte, there wil be 15 Ministers and eight State Secretaries. Just over a third of the new government are women. The expectation is that the Rutte III cabinet will take office on October 26th, RTL Nieuws reports.

As the time for the Rutte III government to take office approaches, the names of more and more Ministers are leaking out. Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) will have three Deputy Prime Ministers, one from each of the other coalition partners. They will be Kasja Ollongren (D66), Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) and Hugo de Jonge (CDA), newspaper AD reports.